Court reserves order cancellation of bail of Virbhadra

Shimla: A court here Wednesday reserved its order for September 15 on the prosecution plea for cancellation of bail for former union minister Virbhadra Singh in the CD case relating to alleged graft.

Special Judge, Shimla, BL Soni heard the arguments of the prosecution and the defence on the application of prosecution seeking cancellation of bail of former Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a former MP, and reserved the order for September 15.

The case against the couple was registered in 2009 and the court had framed graft charges on June 25 this year, after which Virbhadra Singh resigned as union minister.

The court had granted bail to Singh and his wife in December, 2011 but the prosecution sought cancellation of the bail alleging he was influencing prosecution witnesses.

Making the plea for cancellation of bail, Special Public Prosecutor Jiwan Lal Sharma claimed the investigation has sufficient material for cancelling the relief to Singh.

Citing an affidavit dated Sept 6 by a witness Amar Singh, a former employee of Solan-based brewery Mohan Meakin Ltd, the public prosecutor said Virbhadra Singh, through his representative, had pressurised and gave allurement to him to retract from the statement.

He also said there were evidences showing that the accused had tried to influence another witness.

However, the defence argued the prosecution evidences lacked legal standing.

"The evidences were largely based on electronic devices likes DVDs and videos and this court has already ruled that such devices are not admissible as evidence in the court.

"Moreover, the accused has not violated any condition granted during the bail", the defence argued.

It also said his name didn’t figure in the evidence presented by the prosecution.

Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh had appeared in the court on September 7 and pleaded for speedy trial.

The case against the senior Congress leader, who took over as the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief last month, and his wife, pertaining to a 23-year old matter, was registered in 2009, and Singh resigned from the union cabinet on June 26 this year, a day after the Special Judge had framed graft charges against the couple.

Singh, who was appointed HPCC chief on August 27 last, withdrew the petition filed by him for quashing the FIR in the CD case or handing over the investigations to CBI and decided to face the trial in the court of the Special Judge.